Legend of the Cyber Heroes-Chapter 61 - Human Hunting

61: Chapter 61: Human Hunting

61 -61: Human Hunting

Yuki heard the sound of tires.

He pressed tightly against the rock wall, eyes closed, lowering his heart rate.

The artificial heart slowed its flow.

At the same time, the diaphragm ceased moving.

The airbags on either side of the “Dragon Breath” expanded and contracted minimally, allowing him to breathe as smoothly as possible.

A voice came through.

“Second-in-command, that woman turned here…

this fork in the road—huh?”

“What’s wrong?”

“It looks like she turned back.”

“Isn’t that road passable?

I remembered it was.”

“Too panicked, turned into a headless fly?”

“By the way, is it really okay for us to be speaking like this?

The echo carries far, doesn’t it?”

“You don’t get it, Three.” The second voice—apparently the leader—spoke in a lowered tone, “If we don’t chase her out continuously, that woman will probably think she has escaped the danger and will flee leisurely.

We just need to make some faint noises to tell her ‘someone is chasing her’, and she will run desperately.

That’s how we can speed up the game!”

“Brilliant!

Second-in-command, brilliant!”

“Hahaha, there’s another benefit here.” The leader chuckled softly, “Isn’t she also carrying a kid?

That kid must weigh around twenty kilos, which will hugely drain her physical strength!

Just by pushing her like this, she’ll be forced to exhaust her limits.

Imagine, struggling with all her might, her heart and lungs about to burst, vision darkening— and then, just as she sees the light and gasps for air, thinking she has made a miraculous escape, filled with hope in her eyes—then whoosh!

We appear!”

“Hahahaha, magnificent!

Splendid!”

Yuki couldn’t help but tremble.

This was the “Thug”—this was a Martial Artist addicted to “violence” and “trampling!”

The sound of the tires gradually faded.

Yuki’s tension eased, and he involuntarily knelt on the ground.

His hands and feet trembled.

But surprisingly, as the feeling of “fear” surged continuously, another emotion grew within him.

It was “shame.”

He felt ashamed of his own fear.

“I am a ‘Hero,'” the boy told himself, “I am a ‘Hero’…I am, a Hero.”

—That pain, I have already etched in my heart…I cannot let it befall anyone else.

Yuki told himself in his heart.

He quietly stood up from the corner where he was hiding and then stealthily poked his head around the corner.

He was afraid a face might be waiting around the corner to shout “Got you!”

Or, just a gun.

Seeing the empty corridor, Yuki breathed a sigh of relief.

Then he forcefully struck his thigh above the knee.

—I am a Hero…

Even though he knew rationally that he should not follow, a certain emotion spurred his actions.

Bit by bit…

Carefully…

—At least maintain a distance of one turn…

……………………………………

When Little Edward saw the blood on the ground, he couldn’t help but laugh.

Generally, this represented two things.

First, he hadn’t lost the trail.

Of course, that wasn’t much of an issue.

There were surveillance cameras within the passage anyway, and even if the person had really good luck managing to traverse sections without cameras, it wouldn’t matter much.

Because there would definitely be cameras at the exit of the passage.

At that point, the brothers in the monitoring room would surely send out an alert.

Then there was the second point—that woman was almost at her limit.

When she fell to the ground, she couldn’t even manage to make a protective move.

“Very good…” Little Edward commented.

He even considered slowing down the pace a bit to let the woman rest a little.

Although watching a corpse exhausted to death was interesting, it was not as satisfying as personally crushing hope.

At this moment, someone at the back of the group suddenly cocked an ear to listen behind.

“What’s wrong?” Little Edward asked.

“Sounds like an alarm bell?” the man said uncertainly.

They were now a few kilometers from Great Stockade.

Even if the echo effect was significant, the sound should not carry that clearly over such a distance.

Another person said in confusion, “An alarm?

Isn’t that overreacting?

We haven’t received any signal to return, have we?”

“Indeed…” Little Edward nodded, “Although I did alert the others and instructed them to purposely create the illusion that ‘our stockade has defensive flaws’… they wouldn’t go as far as to trigger the alarm, would they?

That would be taking loyalty too far!”

“Should we go back and check…”

With a slap, Little Edward forcefully smacked his palm, interrupting his subordinate, “Are you out of your mind?

The Second-in-command is still in the stockade. ƒreewebηoveℓ.com

What kind of enemy could possibly get inside?

The government?

Their way of suppressing bandits wouldn’t cause such a commotion.”

“Anyway, we’re just a couple of minutes away from the exit now.

Let’s finish off that woman, then head back and see!”

……………………………………………

Emiko had reached her limit.

Her heart was about to give out.

And her internal organs as well.

The primitive lung structure couldn’t sustain such intense activity.

Even her eyesight was failing.

Despite some illumination in the tunnel, she could barely see anything.

The dimly lit tunnel seemed to transform into some kind of demonic realm—the kind that exists in those… those long-abandoned human “fantasies”… places inhabited by impossible, man-eating demons…the dwelling of non-reality.

The exit ahead appeared unreachable.

To Emiko, the ground felt as soft as cotton… No, it was because she was nearly out of strength.

The child in her arms sensed something and began to cry desperately, forcefully kicking against Emiko, who held her.

“Quiet… quiet!” Emiko screamed, covering the child’s mouth with her hand.

She almost wanted to crush the vocal organ.

But being a Non-Prosthesis Human, she didn’t have the strength to do so.

Several times, she thought about simply abandoning the girl mid-way.

But vague noises from behind extinguished that thought repeatedly.

—This brat, utterly ungrateful…

Such thoughts flashed through Emiko’s fading consciousness.

—If it weren’t for my sister liking you, I would have strangled you…

She stumbled as she ran.

She didn’t know how much time had passed—this dying woman seemed to have completely lost her sense of time.

She couldn’t even remember how she managed to run the final stretch.

By the time she regained consciousness, she was lying on a soft layer of moss.

Emiko’s lungs felt the “outside” air first.

Photosynthesis brought a higher oxygen content than inside the tunnel.

She breathed in air filled with “life force”!

Next were her eyes.

Sunlight… Warm light from the sun touched her retina through her slightly metallic eyelids.

“I… I made it out…” Emiko barely regained consciousness, but she couldn’t believe if she was dreaming or not.

Before her lay a black tundra.

Perhaps due to an underground river, the soil was much moister than elsewhere.

There was a bit of vegetation.

Black moss covered her entire field of view, with occasional light red stripes.

Additionally, there were some white fungi about half a meter tall.

Yes, this was the “outside”!

“Thank goodness…” Emiko wept with joy, “We can all make it back alive… thank goodness…”

“Kiddo, we can now live together.

Really… I can register a name for you at the Gene Bank… We can become a family… as long as we reach… as long as we reach the city…” Emiko gasped as she spoke, “Once we reach the city, the Lords… the Protectors… we…”

“Hahahaha… The Protector Lords don’t care much for individual life!”

At that moment, a rugged male voice came from the child’s mouthpiece.

Emiko felt dizzy.

This voiceprint… She was very familiar with it.

It was that of the man who occasionally came to torment her…

“How could this…”

“Look behind you!”

The child’s mouthpiece continued to speak.

The child seemed somewhat aware of this, as she tearfully thrashed about with the large mouthpiece, seemingly trying to interrupt the words.

But this did not seem to alter at her will.

Behind her, the sound of tires crushing the ground approached.

Emiko screamed and started to run, but she had already exhausted her physical strength.

She had only run a few steps when she fell to the ground.

Little Edward emerged from the tunnel, chuckling, “Let me tell you something good… that little thing in your arms, she’s the main culprit who betrayed you!”

Emiko stared blankly at the toddler in her arms.

“She, hehehe…” Little Edward snapped his fingers.

At that instant, it seemed the child was finally allowed to use her vocal organ.

She cried desperately, her cries piercingly sharp.

Emiko felt her eardrums were in pain.

Very painful.

So painful she wanted to cry.

“She’s a recorder, a camera, a locator…” the man chuckled, “Over the past year, three fools have tried to escape with her, and you’re the third.

Her eyes have recorded the expressions of the previous two fools.

I’ve recently rewatched them—do you want to see?”

“You…” Emiko’s tears flowed, “This little bastard, she…”

“She might indeed be a bastard.

Maybe she’s the genetic descendant of some brother in the stockade.

Think about it, even if we don’t fancy any ‘duties’, it’s inevitable.” Little Edward laughed mockingly, “What do you want to do now?

Do you want to strangle this little bastard?”

The toddler wailed miserably, as if foreseeing what was about to happen.

Emiko stared blankly at the infant.